Friday, August 29, 2008

On a wet Thursday night Frontale put in a performance that fully justifies their lofty league position. This 4-1 demolition of Albirex Niigata should put pay to any lingering doubts that this year's title really is within their reach.

The first opening fell to Chong Tese and was almost a carbon copy of his goal against JEF at the weekend. Kengo played a perfectly-timed through ball from deep, but after a good first touch the Korean's shot was blocked by the keeper. Vitor Junior might have done better with the rebound, but the ball arrived too quickly and he was unable to make a proper connection.

Juninho (who had a rather profligate evening) saw a decent shot shave the upright before Masaru Kurotsu broke the deadlock with a wonderful solo effort. Receiving the ball wide on the left just inside the Niigata half, he turned his marker with ease exposing acres of open space. He then carried the ball a good 30 yards to the edge of the area before letting loose a strike that found the back of the net via a deflection off the covering defender.

Frontale's second was another rare goal from Hiroki Ito (only his second ever in the top-flight), who climbed highest at the near post to convert a Kengo corner. The keeper might have got a slightly stronger hand to it, but the poor weather conditions can soak up some of the blame.

It wasn't til early in the second half that Albirex had their first real chance. The home side failed to clear a corner and as the ball was knocked back into a congested penalty area the omni-present Kengo popped up to clear off the line (despite rather optimistic protests from the visitors that the ball had gone in).

No sooner was the danger averted than Frontale added another courtesy of an acrobatic overhead kick by Chong Tese - his third in three outings. The feat was all the more impressive as the tight angle required him to slice the shot off the outside of his boot in order to find his target.

Niigata mananged to snatch a consolation goal midway through the second half - Kisho Yano getting on the end of a deflected cross-cum-shot to score with a simple tap-in.

But with the clock running down, substitute Yusuke Tasaka restored some deserved gloss to the scoreline by finishing off a swift counter-attack. Although he found himself under no real pressure from the opposition defense, the youngster showed great composure as he bent a powerful shot into the corner of the net from 20 yards out.

So as we near the business end of the season it's getting tight at the top. Just two points separate 5th-placed Frontale from 1st-placed Nagoya, but with a difficult trip to 2nd-placed Kashima up next it's vital that this good momentum is maintained.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Kawasaki Frontale kept up the pressure on the league leaders with victory over JEF United on Sunday night.

Probably fair to say this was an easier win than the 1-0 scoreline suggests. The visitors had a hatful of good goalscoring chances while JEF were limited to a few long-range efforts that required competence rather than brilliance from Eiji Kawashima in the Frontale goal.

Juninho had a decent effort early on. Running at the heart of the JEF defence, he let loose a powerful drive that will have left Masahiro Okamoto's gloves tingling for a good few minutes afterwards.

A better opportunity then fell to Kazu Murakami on the edge of the box, but he went for glory rather than squaring to the unmarked Vitor Junior on his left.

The breakthrough eventually came when a trademark long range pass from Kengo allowed Chong Tese to beat the offside trap and dink an easy lob into the back of the net.

The second half continued in much the same vein, with JEF failing to make any real impression. Chong Tese managed to miss from 5 yards out after good work from Juninho down the left. Then a vicious swerving shot from Kengo (a sight that's been something of a rarity this season) was just about beaten away by a relieved Okamoto in the JEF goal.

Monday, August 18, 2008

A combination of woodwork and Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi meant two points were dropped to a plucky, yet eminently beatable, Jubilo Iwata on Sunday.

Frontale's tactic of handing the opposition a one-goal lead and then clawing things back has worked out well in recent weeks. So it wasn't a huge setback when Ryochi Maeda got his chest in the way of a fierce cross to give the visitors the lead early on.

Despite bombarding the Iwata goal for much of the remainder of the first half, Frontale were clearly unwilling to break a winning formula of only mounting a comeback after the break, and went in at half time with it all still to do.

The start of the second half was delayed slightly as Vitor Junior required treatment for a leg injury. However, it was the diminutive Brazilian who had the first real opportunity of the second half as he broke away down the right before cutting back and crashing a sublime effort against the crossbar.

Frontale now had the wind in their sails and it wasn't long before returning Olympian, Hiroyuki Taniguchi, thundered a header into the back of the net from a Vitor Junior corner.

With the game all square, things appeared to be going to plan. But then within 60 seconds of the restart, a lapse in concentration saw the visitors back in front.

Satoru Yamagishi (who seems to be getting far more defensive responsibility than he can handle) was harshly judged to have broken up a Jubilo attack illegally. The resulting free kick, from wide on the right, was whipped in to the box by Kota Ueda and before you could say "Yours, Eiji!" the ball had found its way over the heads of the defensive line and into the corner of the net.

Not to be discouraged by a bit of bad luck (or carelessness, depending on how you want to view it), Frontale were back on the attack. Reassuringly, Chong Tese saw fit to reward the faith put in him during what has been a fairly patchy season. On 64 minutes the burly Korean used all his strength to beat off a defender and lash his shot just inside the near post to even things up again.

So once again the plan was back on track, with plenty of time left on the clock to find a winner. But then came what was probably the pivotal moment of the game. With Iwata looking shaky and Frontale ready to go for the jugular, Vitor Junior, clearly still struggling with his first half injury, was replaced by Masahiro Ohashi, who proceeded to squander two great opportunities - one a free header that he sent wide and the other a mis-kick from the just inside the penalty area.

You've got to feel sorry for Ohashi. He put in some really encouraging performances in the first half of the season and looked like the sort of player who, with a bit more confidence, could cement a first team spot. Then what happens? Vitor Junior comes along and consigns him to the role of bench warmer. I guess the pressure of knowing this could be his one chance to impress was too much for him.

With those two misses a seed of doubt was sown in the Frontale attack. Players were making bad decisions, taking shots when they should have been passing and the window of opportunity was lost.

The last throw of the dice was the introduction of new 21-year-old Brazilian signing, Renatinho. Straight away there were glimpses of brilliance in his touch and control, but after ballooning his one real chance over the bar he looked to be trying just a bit too hard. Promising signs though, especially if he can strike up an understanding with Juninho and Vitor Junior.

So 3 points it wasn't to be. But overall it's not looking too bad. Only 4 points off top spot, with Urawa and Kashima returning to ACL action next month. Would have gladly taken that back in May!

Overall, there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic at this juncture. The team is playing well, for the most part: Juninho is a constant threat in his new position on the left of a 3-man attack; can't really say enough positive things about Vitor Junior (hopefully this injury won't turn out to be serious); early signs suggest Renatinho could be a quality signing. And that's just the Brazilians!

The only real problem areas are the flanks. Murakami and Yamagishi are currently required to play as wingbacks, but what Murakami lacks in attack Yamagishi lacks in defence. Barring injury, Mori would normally start ahead of Murakami, but then there's the same problem that Mori isn't great defensively.

One solution would be to go with a flat back four with Murakami and Ito as full backs and two out of Igawa, Terada and Yokoyama in the middle. But with Igawa and Terada both out that's not really an option.

Another issue is where to play Taniguchi now that Vitor Junior's taking up the central attacking midfield role. Hard to leave him out when he's so often in the right place at the right time to knock in important goals. I guess time will tell.